Chapter 53
Chapter 53
Hehe, Do you have proof?
****
“A low-rank villain was hiding in the academy?”
“Yes. He was subdued while attempting to blow up the alchemy research lab.”
“Who subdued him?”
“Cadet Han Tae-jin and Han-na.”
“…Han Tae-jin?”
Kim Hye-seo, who had been half-lying in her chair with her eyes closed while listening to the report, raised an eyebrow and opened one eye slightly.
Dong-jin nodded and answered her question.
“Yes. It’s the same cadet we saw before.”
[Han Tae-jin]
His name, the same one associated with the B-rank villain subjugation just the other day, came up again.
Lowering the leg she had propped up on her desk, Hye-seo took the report and flipped through the pages and asked again,
“What’s the probability of him being Jaeger?”
‘Jaeger,’ the word that came out of her mouth.
Meaning ‘hunter’ or ‘sharpshooter’ in German, it referred to an individual who hunted low- and mid-rank villains, though he had been inactive lately.
And this Jaeger was someone who had piqued her interest.
His reasons for hunting villains and his method of luring them away from CCTV surveillance seemed quite skillful.
Above all, his movements, which seemed to anticipate the appearance of villains, couldn't help but draw her suspicion and attention.
Moreover, her investigator’s instincts told her that he wasn’t hunting for the public good, like protecting civilians, but for personal gain.
Because of this, she had been conducting investigations whenever she had the time, but he was so quick and meticulous that his identity remained a mystery.
Knowing this, Dong-jin shook his head with a regretful expression.
“The possibility seems slim. Jaeger’s main weapon is a blunt instrument, and his fighting style is different from Cadet Han Tae-jin’s.”
“That’s true… Hmm.”
Hye-seo clicked her tongue in disappointment and leaned back in her chair again.
She closed her eyes.
Strangely, Han Tae-jin's face came to mind.
And next to him, the face of her mentor, Han Chang-ho, who was currently undercover as a spy in Illusion, also appeared.
“Low probability of being Jaeger, huh…”
Hye-seo murmured and exhaled slowly.
One could change their main weapon, and their fighting style could also be adapted depending on the weapon.
Therefore, Hye-seo didn't completely dismiss the possibility of Han Tae-jin being Jaeger.
For some reason, he kept catching her attention.
And more importantly,
No information could be found about the bodyguard, Renia.
Even after searching her face, name, and Han Tae-jin’s information, no relevant details could be found about her.
She was like a ghost.
Therefore, Hye-seo was starting to suspect that Renia might be a new type of human created through Illusion’s experiments.
And during the tracking process, she had also found inconsistencies in Han Tae-jin’s past actions and information.
It felt like someone had intentionally erased his family relations and past.
Such a thorough erasure could only be done by someone with a fairly high position in a government agency.
So, in the darkness behind her closed eyelids, Hye-seo dwelled on Han Tae-jin's face, lost in thought.
“It’s so strange…”
[Strange]
Among the many words that could describe Han Tae-jin, ‘strange’ was perhaps the most fitting.
And if, by a million-to-one chance, Han Tae-jin was related to Han Chang-ho, she had a duty to protect him as a secret investigator for the Monster Management Bureau.
So, Hye-seo spent the long night repeating the word ‘strange’ in her mind.
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“Don’t lower your stance too much. Put more weight on your toes.”
“Focus your mana on your Achilles tendons and thighs. Attacking comes later.”
“Imagine that you’re looking through a telescope, and the place you want to move to is right in front of you. Think of moving there in a single step. That’s the foundation of Lightning Blade Arts.”
It’s a skill that even the prodigious talent Park Na-yeon took three months to master.
That’s how difficult [Lightning Blade Arts] was.
It was practically an ultimate skill among close-range combat techniques.
Therefore, even if he knew the principles and basics, it was impossible to master it in a single day.
It was like trying to teach calculus to someone who came to learn basic equations.
Still, he seemed to grasp the general feel of it and managed to mimic it to some extent.
Of course,
“That’s… some slow-motion Lightning Blade Arts.”
“Huh?”
“I could yawn faster than that.”
To the eyes of his S-rank Master, it probably looked like a toddler’s first steps.
“But it’s not bad. You at least managed to crawl there.”
“As expected, you’re stingy with compliments.”
“Stingy with compliments? Do you like stingy peppermint candy?”
Park Na-yeon suddenly cracked a dad joke, chuckled, and left the training grounds.
A chill ran down his spine, and the sweat that clung to his body turned cold.
…She made dad jokes in the original story too, but reading them and experiencing them firsthand were completely different.
‘Ah, it really is a different experience.’
Anyway, he hadn’t expected to master [Lightning Blade Arts] in a single day, not even in his wildest dreams.
So, after exhausting himself with training, he took a refreshing shower at the mansion and headed home with Renia.
It was already 11 PM.
It had been a tiring day, and he wanted to get home quickly and collapse into bed, but for some reason, Renia was walking incredibly fast today.
She even managed to overtake him quite a few times.
Her steps were much lighter than usual.
“Renia? Is there something urgent?”
“Huh?”
“No, it’s just that you’re walking really fast today.”
She was practically speed-walking.
Her gait had a cheerful, rhythmic bounce to it.
But when he asked, Renia stammered, clearly flustered.
“Oh, me? D-did I…?”
“Yeah, you did.”
“Well… I enjoy the walk home?”
“Are you enjoying it a little extra today?”
At his question, Renia just smiled shyly and continued walking.
Something was definitely different about her.
But it seemed like a trivial matter to ask again, so he let it slide. He matched Renia’s pace, and soon, they arrived at the alley near his house.
Suddenly, Renia called out to him.
“Master, no. Tae-jin.”
“Yeah.”
“Tae-jin is someone who keeps his promises, right?”
A sudden, pointed question.
He felt a little nervous, thinking she was going to bring up his sudden disappearance this afternoon again.
An angry Renia was cute, but also quite scary.
“…Yeah?”
“Tae-jin is a man of his word. Right?”
“…Yeah. Why?”
“Promises are precious. Right?”
“So why are you suddenly asking me this?”
A chill ran down his spine as she sounded like she was interrogating him.
Her smug smile didn't help either.
…What was going on with her?
Was this how a married man felt when he came home from work and his wife called him over to the dinner table with a low voice, saying, “We need to talk”?
Feeling like a thief with a guilty conscience, cornered by Renia’s leading questions, he followed her anxiously and asked,
“Why? Renia, why are you asking me this?”
“Hee… Nothing.”
Her saying “nothing” while smiling made him even more anxious.
“Why? If it’s nothing, then why are you suddenly asking me this?”
“Ah! We’re home…!”
*Dash!*
As soon as the front door came into view, Renia darted inside.
He hesitated for a moment, feeling the uncomfortable incompleteness, like being interrupted mid-poop, and then went inside.
And….
His unease grew as Renia rushed towards him as soon as he opened the front door.
“R-Renia?”
“Hehe, ta-da!”
Renia, who had transformed back into her succubus form, wagged her tail and held something up to his face.
A single sheet of A4 paper.
Something was written on it in crooked handwriting.
The letters were all over the place, varying in size and not aligned with any lines.
And seeing it, he finally understood the source of the nagging unease and foreboding he had been feeling.
[Guarantee]
[Han Tae-jin must grant Bersha one wish of her choosing whenever he disappears without telling her.]
[Han Tae-jin : Signature]
[Bersha : Signature]
…Ah.
Now that he thought about it… he had promised her, hadn’t he?
After the Behemoth incident, he promised to grant her a wish if he disappeared without telling her.
Uh…
But wait a minute.
“Renia, there’s something wrong with this. It says I have to grant you a wish ‘whenever’ I disappear without telling you?”
He was sure he had promised to grant her a wish only *once,* and within ‘reasonable’ limits.
Renia giggled, as if he were talking nonsense, and said,
“No? This is exactly what it says. Look~ You even signed it yourself~”
The signature was definitely his.
He clearly remembered signing it.
But… he was certain he had said only once, and within reasonable limits.
He frantically tried to snatch the paper and read it again, but Renia quickly rolled it up and put it in her pocket.
“R-Renia? This seems different from what we agreed on… I’m sure I said I’d grant you one wish…?”
Renia’s smile turned increasingly mischievous.
It was the smile of someone confident in their victory.
“I never changed what’s written on the guarantee.”
“N-no. But…”
“What are we going to do~ I never changed it.”
Of course, he hadn't read the contents carefully.
Because he had been too captivated by Renia’s clumsy attempt to secure his promise, and she had even written it herself in her crooked handwriting.
It was just too cute.
So he had signed it with a happy smile.
A really cool and awesome signature, too.
Therefore, all he could do now was lament his foolishness for not reading the contract properly and plead with the magistrate like a commoner.
“No, but this seems a bit different from what we agreed on…?”
However, the ferocious magistrate, licking her lips and wagging her heart-tipped tail, seemed to have no intention of listening to his pleas.
“Hehe, do you have proof?”
She had used the ultimate, irrefutable move.
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<w:pgmar w:bottom="1440" w:top="1440" w:left="1440" w:right="1440" w:header="720" w:footer="720"><w:pgnumtype w:start="1"><w:r w:rsiddel="00000000" w:rsidr="00000000" w:rsidrpr="00000000"><w:rpr><w:rtl w:val="0"><w:t xml:space="preserve">[T/N: lolololol... It’s a win-win situation, tbh.]